Non-intrusive popups in radio browsers (Bohmann Usability)



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Non-intrusive popups in radio browsers

It's considered a fatal usability error when online radio listeners close their radio browser by accident because it stops their musical experience ("Hey, the music stopped. What happened?"). Virgin Radio solved the problem by adding a JavaScript that warns the user upon closing the browser window or navigating away from the page:

"Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page? You'll stop listening to Virgin Radio if you do. Press OK to continue or Cancel to stay on the current page."

Radio browser window with pop-up

Listening to online radio, music, and other audio differs from all other online experiences since you don't need to look at the browser window. The browser can work in the background without the user noticing it. However, this also means that the user may not notice that he is closing a browser which he is actually using.

Future browsers could better support online listening by making it possible to move the icon for a particular browser window from the default taskbar to the system tray (lower-right corner on your Windows desktop). This would make it harder to shut down an active radio browser by accident.

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